aesthetic research

In this post, looked at hair as aesthetic research and inspiration for mainly what the mother’s hair can look like, therefore making this research relevant to the project.

At first looked at Victorian inspired or recreated hairstyles since most of the characters clothing is already in a Victorian setting, it made sense to research this. There seems to be a lot of detail mainly happening at the back of the hair with lots of it being wrapped around.

After seeing this photo of the hair wrapped around with jewellery in a Harrods magazine realized why have plain hair for the character, the character can have their hair shaped as things. Might consider having the mother character having jewellery or gems wedged in the hair.

After seeing the Harrods image, decided to look at more general hair design, some were apparently inspired by animals.
That made me rethink how the masked man and the girl character are inspired by birds. Cats chase birds.

In conclusion: for the mother character going to try and make the hair in a shape of a cat to show that she tries to prey on the girl character by selling her to prostitution.

This post looks at swords for mainly authentic research therefore making it relevant to the project.

At first looked at generic swords.

After looking at swords started looking at sword stands, with the idea before the big close up of the masked man holding the sword, it can be in the background in the game room. Where people may not take notice of unless they watched the animation twice.In conclusion: after looking at the reference images, there’s normally 2 stands. The first stand is lower that holds the sword sheath while the top stand is higher and holds the actual sword.

Had just remembered that fencing is a sword sport. Therefore, looking at fencing swords are relevant. These are mainly sabers and one pistol grip. There’s an amount of sportsmanship and mannerism in fencing, what fits perfectly to the masked man’s character.

Thought about why is the masked man holding a fencing sword to kill someone, it doesn’t really have any cutting power, just stabbing power.
Decided to research about katanas since that is a well-known sword, from research they are prized for its cutting power. However, a katana doesn’t really fit the Victorian theme of the animation. The only explanation it’s a katana is the idea a masked man was a traveling man since he was part of the circus when he was alive as well as ties in why he has a zen garden.

From research, the most famous swords are mainly from leaders of the army.

Since most of the aesthetics of the animation was heavy Victorian inspired, it made sense to searched up Victorian swords. Most of them looked like they had a French influence with them just looking like fencing saber swords with slightly thicker real blades.
Found it interesting on one of the hilts, it’s a shape of animal.

In conclusion: going to model a saber sword with some sort of bird hilt since the masked man has a bird as a mask, as well as fit in better with the time the animation is set. While designing the sword need to think was the sword from a war, if yes what rank the masked man was. If sticking to timeline of Victorian times some research into the Crimean War or other wars during the time.

This post looks at urns for authentic research therefore making it relevant to the project.

This post looks at urns for authentic research therefore making it relevant to the project.

Since the girl design is part influenced by Egyptians and they have large beliefs systems about the afterlife, decided to look at Canopic jars.

In conclusion: from research and thinking about how the girl as a woman hold the urn. Most likely going to combine the shape of the blue urn in the 1st image with some sort of head as the lid, after looking at Egyptian jars. Going need to think about what decorative design can be on the jar.

As a backup plan if unable to animate the scattering of the ashes, can have the girl as a woman throw the masked man’s liver in the waters. At first thought about the girl throwing the heart into the waters, however that’s normally mummified with the deceased. Things like the liver was placed in the canopic jar.

In this post looked at some aesthetics of Victorian prostitutes and some history about them. This research is relevant since the child and masked man is somewhat aesthetically drawn inspired by the Victorian era, it makes sense for the mother to be drawn with similar clothing too.

Some modern renditions.

Some powerful madams

Some notes from research:
Some madams stole children to sell for prostitution.

casual prostitutes were more common the full-time prostitutes. Most of the time the husbands encouraged their wives to be one. Any suspected prostitutes were forced to be inspected.

3 class of prostitutes
Lowest class walked the streets and used brothels
Middle class ones had their own apartments
High class prostitutes is supported by one client and financially independent.

From another source
It mentions the husbands just saw their wives as properties so would pimp them out as much as they please.

Child prostitution was legal. Age of concept was 13, however Lower-class family’s would sell their children male or female as young as 11 to prostitution. An article suggested parents to drug their children with chloroform so the children won’t struggle against the rapist. Due to this article, the public was horrified to what they read and this is the reason why the age of consent is now 16.

In some other articles, it stated children ages as young as 8 sold to prostitution.

Since prostitution was legal back then, women most commonly were arrested for drunkenness or gathering in streets. Prostitutes advertised themselves in sport guides that detailed their psychical descriptions, cost, personality and age.

Looked into American prostitution in mainly in the 19th century.

Prostitution was a highly lucrative business. Successful madams had masses of lands and became one of the wealthiest people in the country and was normally dressed richest in the area.

Red lipstick.

Quote “ Rogers provided her prostitutes with personal hairstylists and dressmakers, ensuring that they were among the most stylish women in the world.

Quote “Prostitutes in a 1916 study reported earnings between $30 to $50 per week, at a time when skilled male trade union members averaged roughly $20 per week. “this was at the time women was banned from most work. Its stated some women worked for $3, $5 -$6 in a factory a week but quit it to work In the lucrative prostitution job. The lowest prostitutes average between $1 to $5 per act. less successful brothels tend to be the ones that abused their workers.

Since it was tricky trying to find reference images that aren’t just black and white with women holding their dress up or modern day take of Victorian prostitutes. Decided to ask people in the reddit forums the aesthetics of Victorian prostitutes.

In conclusion: going to have a scene to suggest the mother selling the daughter to men for money and that part of the reason why as a women/ teen commits suicide at the end. To think about if the mother is a normal prostitute worker or the madman and what class of prostitute is she. Since the research of what prostitutes looked like has been polluted it modern day interpretations of it, going to further look at Victorian dresses. However, for a starting point going to think about the mother looking out of place by how she acts, possible excessive amount of accessories. From research of the artworks/ text or modern renditions going to think about have the: breasts more exposed, sleeves going higher up the arm. Since planning to have the mother have no class, some scandalous ankle to show.
Since finding out this research, going to make a u-turn of the theme of the thesis film. Going to strip most of the reincarnation themes out and instill the child abuse theme back in.

In this blog looked at oddities rooms and psychic / séance rooms as part of aesthetic research.

Decided to watch some videos on oddities rooms while taking note what type of things are in them, as inspiration of what can be in the masked man game room for the thesis film.

Many dead animal bones, fur, rocks, butterfly’s, birds, things in jars, shells, glass casings, things in frames, dead rodents, insects, some with fluid tend to be the items that aren’t just bone but still have flesh on them are not. Some of the bones have been drawn on, dressed or metal bits stuck to them.

Dead animals in jars of fluid, a spine with parts of a brain and eyes, things in jars, heads mounted on walls, glass cabinets, rectangular tables, candles, skulls, skulls on top of polls, mirrors, dead monkey on top of a dead dog, dead unborn baby white monkeys floating in jars, old leather chair, red curtains and mounted old guns.

Many dead humans and animals, exploded skull reconstructed, sliced up bones, shrunken heads that blackened, lace on some of the dead animals, mummified heads.

In conclusion: for the oddities rooms there’s a lot of dead items, decorated bones, things in frames and jars in display. Going to incorporate those things in the masked man game room.

Decided to look at fortune telling/ séance rooms since that’s what’s associated with circus’s as well as links to the death theme of the animation.

Skulls, light source.

In conclusion: psychic rooms has a generic looking glass ball in the rooms. For psychic / séance rooms, round tables are common with a piece of fabric on top, the ones you don’t see fabric, it has a wooden top exposed. Dark reds or creamy white seems to be commonly used.

In this blog looked at both large garden sided zen gardens and miniature zen gardens as aesthetic research, as well as the symbolism behind a zen garden.

Upon research, zen rock gardens are a place of ritual, raking the sand is a form of moving meditation, for zen monks to think about the nature and freedom of the mind. Rocks in the zen garden may represent the trees, mountains or animals. Zen gardens are separated into 8 elements: sand, stones, trees, waters, waterfalls, bridges and islands. Bridges can be from wood or stone with it symbolizing transition from one world, stage of life or form. Sand is normally white in colour, raked to symbolize moving water. Trees as such as quote “Pine, bamboo, flowering plum and cherry trees are commonly used “ however different types of plant have different meanings.

Noticed the mini zen gardens rake have either 4 or five points. Didn’t want to model a rake with 4 points due to it symbolizing death in Chinese culture, which is ironic since the whole animation is about death. Researched the symbolism of the number 5 in Buddhism. According to research,

5 symbolize in zen Buddhism the 5 commandments which are: abstain from killing abstain from stealing, abstain from adultery, abstain from lying, abstain from intoxicating liquors.

The other symbolism I mainly focused on was the 5 worlds eg: heaven and earth, sun and moon, darkness and light, yin and yang, water and fire. The 5 eyes and the fivefold cause and effect.
Screenshots of some of the symbolisms:

Both the outside gardens and mini gardens tend to be contained in a rectangular shape. Most of the bowls seem to be either wood or black coloured.

In conclusion: for the rake going to place 5 points due to the symbolism from research. As a bare minimum for the zen garden going to include: sand and rocks as a base. May or may not include a fake plant, a water source in the rocks or the appearance of moss and statues. During research saw briefly different stages of recantation in Buddhism on a symbolism website; going to look more into reincarnation and possibly feed it into the thesis film as inspiration point.

In this blog looked at: animations, short films and films for inspiration of what to include in the thesis film. Also took note of the length of the short animations, colours, character interactions and themes.

12 min 30 sec
Butterfly’s. Narration was the only speaking. All the other numbers were pink and white while the zero numbers were white and brown yarn. The 0s were forbidden from mating, treated poorly and beaten. The male 0 thrown in prison, the girl ends up giving birth to infinity so the people end up bowing down to them. Near the end of the animation the face looked creepy Just looking from the bar window.

In conclusion: if there’s more than one character to think about, what colour should the main character or background characters should be and whether the character will stand out from the other characters.

Included this clip from Bojack Horseman, because of the way they displayed the background characters.

In some sections the background characters have an animated black squiggle on their faces, the doctors don’t have black squiggles but have surgical masks on with no eyes. At some point, the background characters are slightly blurred. When she goes through these flashbacks there are glitches, the flashbacks cut from when Beatrice was a child or giving birth straight to when her servant gives birth. Throughout season 4 ep 11 of Bojack Horseman: her mother that had already had a lobotomy at this stage is only shown as a nonspeaking shadow. In some sections the background characters are depicted with no faces instead of the black squiggles, probably because they where neutral characters that didn’t cause her stress at the time. They keep mentioning the year of the flashback with the time of passage on books. In the episode at 7:31 you can see her remember details wrong, for example a fridge is filled with lemons and sugar; things she had to eat as a child since she was forbidden from eating ice-cream, due to her gender and time she lived in.

In conclusions: going to think about how well the character knows the other characters or if they caused harm to them and how to portray there faces, how the time period or environment effects each character.

In the Manga and anime of “can you hear me” they had the: background characters that the main character disliked or don’t care about have a cross on their faces, their eyes tend to be covered.In conclusion: hiding the eyes, hides peoples identities can be put in consideration for the thesis film.

The voice was really irritating and made it hard to watch the animation. Blurry scenes, it cuts scene to scenes, it looks like it looking through the orb, faces ended up not having facial features, some things melt into others. Some sections look like particles of dust. The narration made the visuals make sense, however it was irritating to listen to.

In conclusion: going to think about if the shots are as if been looked through an item, particles, weather or not to make visuals purposely show its through a memory or not for the final animation, does the animation really need any speech.

FLOATING IN MY MIND – Animation Short Film 2013 – GOBELINS

Thought it was interesting the concept of the balloons as memories, with most of them go from the person but creates a new balloon for the people left behind. That his last memory was so precious yet he gave it to a child.

The music starts off with an upbeat but slowly slows down while the person ages. At the beginning you can see the contrast of the character with the white background, overtime the character looks washed out due to the amount of balloon but then becomes clearer again near the end when he gives away his balloon.In conclusion: going to possibly incorporate an item that disappears, then turns into something else if the characters in the final animation dies or have the end similar to the beginning.

Is Reality Real? The Simulation Argument

Looked at this video because thought it was interesting how the skin melts off the head and how items separating into parts, or parts coming together, quick clean cut scenes. Took note what else happened in the animation: narration, simple motion graphics, base colours and shapes, patterns items, glitches appear.

In conclusion: going to consider parts of an item coming together or separating.

Halloween Animation | Fushigi Circus: Episode 4 – I am a cat!

Looking at this video was relevant because of its circus theme, and in the thesis film planning to incorporate that.

Just seems to be a cable connecting to all the different characters, inflating or deflating something. The cat’s eyes look like googly eyes, the camera picks up the pace and ends up just the same cat over and over. had the impression all that inflating was for the butter for the pancake. It appears to be in a bright summery beach place but morphs into a dirty gloomily circus.

Looked at this animation due to its death topic.Car accident, the reaper is shown in the guy’s vehicle looking at the hour glass. It has no dialog just heavily on music and sound effects. It had an ending gag of the reaper having the machine fall on his foot. The reaper is shown as a character in a typical cloak as well as wearing hobo gloves, his face isn’t shown just 2D animated eyes. The spirit is shown as a white spirit.

In conclusion: car accidents seems to be a common death depicted in animations and short films, the lack of facial features create mystery to the audience making them wonder more.

CGI Animated Short HD: “Morty’s” by BadKidow Company

Their Synopsis: “In the 21st century, emotional and generational conflict between a mother and her son for one thing … The mother is none other than death.”

At the beginning the characters face is not shown, only silhouettes. A problem arises, a possible solution but then that solution gets taken away from them, in this situation the astronauts explodes, the animation ends what seem to be an half solution with the pair plating cabbages and roses. The music with the mother seems to be classical music while with the boy rave music comes on.

In conclusion: going to think about having a possible problem seems like its solved but then it gets destroyed, as well as think about what type of sounds or music depending on which character is on the screen.

Their synopsis: “In a family headed by a tyrannical father, the younger daughter will regain her freedom on her birthday …“

Looking at this animation is relevant because it seems to have many visual metaphors as well as its 3d, those 2 elements planning to incorporate in the thesis film. It also has visual metaphors that suggest the girl gets raped by her father, her mother possibly abused by her father, her brother seems to give her a tool, a knife in this situation to stop the abuse by killing him. At first, they are depicted as a family unit however her family disappears into the darkness, the colours used are very dark with few sections with colours as highlight making those sections stand out more. Many browns, golden colours and reds were used. When it goes to the scene where her brother gives a key item, the colour scheme is blue. In some sections you can see her fathers eyes in the darkness, close-ups of certain body parts, legs running and her face of shame, a pink opening flower, the girl seems to be traveling around a mystical woods, there is no talking, just music.

In conclusion: If I were to incorporate abuse, that actual abuse doesn’t need to be shown just close up of certain body parts to make it suggestive of what is happening. Have the animation have a limited dark colour pallet to set the seriousness of the topic.

Dark grey colours, looked at this since it depicts a somewhat afterlife, therefore making it relevant to the project to look at. The banshee is depicted with black marks on its eyes, the spirit from the perspective of the living was a translucent colour, a depiction of water and traveling by boat.

In conclusion: going to think about water, how the living characters see the dead, how the dead see the living and how the dead sees the world.

To deal with her mother’s death, she asked others about their grief. Then, she animated them.

Looking at this animation was relevant to the project because it has the topic of death, a topic I’m planning to incorporate in the thesis film.

They soften the blow of the topic of death by animating the characters as animals or vegetables, doing tasks as such as knitting, eating ice cream with some sections the characters not talking, just doing those tasks with narration on top.

In conclusion: going to think about placing distractions in the animation while something happens in the background.

Deloused

Looked at this animation because thought it was interesting how a creature morphed from a pile of white puss that was a dead bug. Looking at this animation is relevant because it has a murder revenge theme, which is one of the themes in one my ideas, therefore looking how this animation tackled that theme was relevant.

A disturbing clown was in the butt of the bug, unnerving the way the camera looked back and forth from the characters eyes.

In conclusion: if I were to have something morph into another, to think about having some sort of layer of foam or material with creature rise from the wall or floor.

Leon

Decided to watch this film after feedback, due to it’s about a hitman and little girl.

The key items seem to the hitman’s fondness of milk, he tries to pass on that fondness by making the child drink it. This could also show the hitman’s childlike innocence. During the film you see the hitman notice the bruise on the girls face, Leon doesn’t seem to want to get involved but watched in the distance and sees the child abuse go on. The little girls family being murdered. He’s watching from the door but doesn’t get involved, when the girl knocks on the door several times you can see him question his morality if he should help her. He eventually lets her in. At one stage you see him holding a gun when the girl is sleeping, questioning to himself if he should kill her. He ends up moving place to place and ends up dying for the little girl. While the pair moves, you find out the plant is a second key item. Throughout the film you see the bond between the girl and hitman grow. The girl is very upfront and tries to sleep with him, While Leon tries to brush off her advances and is seen as a reserved character. The girl at some stage ends up trying on round glasses and the same type of Hat Leon wears. The film ends with the girl taking the plant the hitman was fond of and planting it.

In conclusion going to have to think about the personalities of each character and make a contrast as well as what items the characters have an attachment to.

Awake – Short Film

Instrumental, narration, a kid that doesn’t see anyone, he grows an attachment to a gnome as a distraction, he questions what he keeps finding, for example, his clothes folded, flower petals, dark silhouettes of people, confusion, he found a car filled with water, he goes through mundane day to day tasks, he is able to see anyone until at the end he sees his grandfather. Passage of time with the narrated amount of days he had been alone. Eerie music when he starts noticing these changes. Only at the very end, you see the newspaper telling you he died by crashing his car into a river and that’s why there was water in the car, the audience realizes the grandfather died by the illness that’s why they can see each other.

In Conclusion: going to try to avoid the cliché of the newspaper at the end, think about what small hints or items can hint to an event or death throughout the thesis film before the big reveal.

Looked at some student films to see how they tackled doing a thesis film.

Changing Batteries – The Saddest Story 3D Animation

Looked at this animation because it has the bond and circus element.

The old lady family member wasn’t able to visit her so he gave her a robot. At the beginning, the Old lady acted indifferent to the robot but you slowly see them form a bond to each other. The robot is given premium oil near the end. You can tell throughout, the old lady is unwell and probably die at the end and she does, because of scenes of her coughing and medicines.

Most of the animation is in the house setting, some while they sit at a table. The robot seems exited of the circus he sees on the tv. When it’s the day of the circus the old lady surprises him with the circus tickets however when he comes back she dies. He tried to revive her with batteries, but you see him realize she’s gone forever with a moment of mourning. Time passes, the robot “Dies” because of lack of battery, they both meet each other in spirit form and go to the circus together.

There was no dialogue throughout the 3D animation, it was 5 min 33 sec long, brown tones to make it seem old.

In conclusion: going to think about one main colour and what tones of it to incorporate In the thesis film as well as a possible build up, so people can guess straight away the characters are going to die as well as the character meeting after death.

Circus – Animation Short / Court-Métraged’animation

Their synopsis:
A former circus manager leads a boring life until he receives a tempting invitation that will lead him to an unexpected situation.

Looked at this because it has a circus theme, 3D animation and it was created by students.It starts off in a shop into a house, the guy has a top hat and seem to be in a Victorian setting. The man gets lured in by a red bra however when the guy looks at images on the wall it turns into 2D motion graphics illustrations with lights and smoke. Cut-scenes back and forth from the bear and the character. Find out the bear Shallotte is the same bear shown slightly more in detail at the end. Can see the stubble of the guy, dark colours, lots of use of reds and browns. It was 4 min 15 seconds long

In conclusion: going to think about something appearing at the beginning then appear at the end but with more detail.

Short Animation ‘MEMORY

While the girl is struggling there is a yellow/orange filter, every time she drew on the light board they seem to disappear. Its an animation of just one person looking back at her life as how she enjoyed drawing as a child. As a child, her memories are bright and cheerful. She picks up a childhood drawing, the gloomy room transforms to being bright with her childhood self running towards her. When her childhood self-holds up the artwork it cuts to her adult’s hands. The orange/ yellow filter disappears when she hangs up the drawing and smiles.

A slow instrumental when she’s failing, the memory has a slightly faster beat music. It’s quieter at times to hear the ripping of the paper or snapping of paper. There’s no talking.

In conclusion: when doing a flashback may incorporate it being either brighter or darker depending if it was a positive or negative memory from the present in which the characters are in.

Student film. They animated to a song, some sections the backgrounds are just plain with a coloured gradients on them, and not actually depicting the building. This tends to happen when there’s has movements or key moments. Elongated black silhouettes. It’s about a girl and man, with the man seems to be the predictor with the girl as prey. 3 min 48 seconds long, the backgrounds are more detailed, whereas the characters are mainly flat colours this gives a contrast between the two.

In conclusion going to think about either the background or character is plainer than the others to give more of a contrast.

CGI 3D Animated Short HD: “Medusa’s Ball” – by ESMA

Looked at this animation because it was a student film as well as the themes of people reuniting, death and memories being replayed.

It starts off as a ship in the sea, gathers that the old lady is dead. When the women touch something, the room reconstructs itself and the jellyfish turn into people and replays a memory. It appears to be her husband waiting when she tries to go through, the dry reconstructed room has water flood in. She touches a jellyfish, she becomes particles before becoming a jellyfish her self, she swims off with this jellyfish making people think maybe that’s her husband. The jelly fish are pink, in contrast to the blue sea.

In conclusion: going to think about people turning into creatures/ inanimate objects or a memory being replayed depending on what the character touches.

After looking at the animals at the zoo decided to look more on aesthetic research at snakes. Thought to make the masked man a more approachable character, him having a pet snake could do just that. Therefore, looking at snakes is relevant to the project.

Snakes are seen as deadly creatures, however decided to look at what makes a snake adorable, so it’s less threatening then compared to a giant poisonous snake.

In conclusion, the: light coloured snakes, pastel colours, orange and white, pink eyes, the lack of the crease eye line, its small size makes snakes appear more adorable and approachable.

Decided to look at open snake mouths to see how I would need to model It. In conclusion, snake mouths have: a tube type wall of flesh in the middle of the mouth, not all snakes have fangs, the lack of fangs, the more adorable it looks. Connective pink tissue from the top to bottom mouths, the bigger the eyes the more adorable the snake making it more approachable.

In conclusion: after putting all those notes into consideration need to: think if the tongue is going to be separate or how to rig, How to connect the tongue to the snake since the tubing in its mouth is so small, look more at small snake breeds, footage on snake behaviour and movements.

Aesthetic primary research. Went into stores, restaurants and toilets to take photos as part of inspiration for what the lights or light shade could look like in the animation. This research is relevant to the project Because no room is complete till it has a light bulb or a light shade.

Some look like colourful gems, some are just a cage type item, a silver pineapple stand, a teardrop stand, butterfly pattern, different shape spheres on the stand.

A bunny as a light stand, a giant round circle as if it was a metal stone as a light stand, detailed metal meshes as if it was lace, spiral shapes, dangling glass from the light shade.

Some look like paper, flower shapes, detailed spirals in a shape of a ball, crab cage with a light in it.

In conclusion: many light shades or stands are white, silver or bronze in colour. Going to have to think about the: shape of the light shade, stand, if it’s going to be on the ceiling, sit on a table or floor, if the light shade is a full light shade or has many holes, to model a base mesh then texture with an opacity map if planning to have many holes, if the detail is worth placing on depending where it’s in the room.

Looked at Victorian female children, since planning to have one character to be a female child. By looking at the clothing it would offer some idea generation therefore making this research relevant to the project. Looked at specifically Victorian children clothing because in a previous post looked at steampunk; Victorian clothing comes before steampunk.

In conclusion, Victorian children clothing come up shorter to the person, just below the knees compared to adult female dresses that are normally floor length. Most have Short puffy sleeves, the dresses flair out, some images look like they have a white petticoat underneath.